Ex-Minister Scheuer is said to have told the toll investigation committee the untruth – that’s why the judiciary is now investigating. It’s about breakfast.
The processing of the failed car toll has a legal aftermath for the former Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer (CSU).
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office initiated investigations against Scheuer and the former Secretary of State for Transport, Gerhard Schulz, on suspicion of making false statements in the Bundestag investigative committee. The authority reports this.
Scheuer: I testified truthfully
Scheuer told the German Press Agency: “I testified truthfully before the investigative committee. There is nothing to add. I am firmly assuming that a review will not come to any other conclusion.” According to the public prosecutor’s office, the preliminary investigations initiated on April 13 are based on several criminal complaints from private individuals.
The car toll – a prestige project of the CSU in the then black-red federal government – was stopped in June 2019 by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as illegal. A committee of inquiry had dealt with possible mistakes made by Scheuer.
That had happened
The committee started its work in December 2019 and completed it in summer 2021. The main criticism was that Scheuer concluded operator contracts for the car toll at the end of 2018, even before there was final legal certainty at the ECJ.
The investigations of the public prosecutor’s office are specifically about: According to the announcement, there is an initial suspicion that Scheuer and Schulz “deliberately untruthfully” testified in their testimonies before the investigative committee – according to their memory, there was no offer from the designated toll operator consortium to conclude the contract for the car – Postpone the toll to a point in time after the expected ECJ ruling.
Managers burden Scheuer
Managers of the operating companies later planned had reported to the investigative committee about such an offer to Scheuer – they had made it to him at the end of November 2018 at a breakfast with Scheuer in the ministry. The boss of the ticket specialist CTS Eventim, Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, had said that Scheuer had rejected the offer. He made it clear that the toll had to start in 2020, which was unacceptable in the 2021 election year. The head of the second consortium partner Kapsch, Georg Kapsch, who also attended the breakfast, confirmed the statement.
Scheuer, on the other hand, testified before the U-Committee at the beginning of October 2020 that, as far as he remembers, there was no such offer from the operators. Schulz had also testified that as far as he could remember there had been no such offer.
word agains word
According to the committee report, according to Scheuer, the meeting with the managers was about a “general political exchange of ideas”, in which the importance of the planned car toll for the federal government should be reaffirmed. Schulz had spoken of an “introductory meeting”. It was statement against statement.
Left budget politician Victor Perli said: “It gives hope for justice that the public prosecutor’s office is now investigating.” His former group colleague Fabio De Masi and he reported Scheuer in 2019 because of “his blatant misconduct”. The appearances of Scheuer and his state secretary in the committee of inquiry were not credible.
It’s in the final report
The committee’s final report stated that “no case of lying, deliberate concealment or manipulation” by the ministry or by Scheuer personally could be credibly proven. With regard to individual content of the meetings between Scheuer and top representatives of the operator parties, there are sometimes conflicting statements. “The committee could not clarify the course and content of the discussions on the disputed points.”
In a joint dissenting opinion of the parliamentary groups FDP, Left and Greens, it was said that the witnesses of the bidding consortium at the time had convincingly presented that there had been an offer to wait until after the ECJ judgment to sign the contracts. Scheuer and Schulz had tried to deceive the Bundestag and the committee of inquiry. From the CSU’s point of view, the car toll should start “on time” in autumn 2020. A toll start shortly before the start of the 2021 federal election campaign should be avoided at all costs because of possible starting difficulties, such as with the truck toll: “These party-tactical considerations were more important to Minister Scheuer than careful handling
the tax money of the citizens.»
Companies are demanding 560 million euros from the federal government
Because the failed car toll could be expensive for the taxpayer: As the intended operators CTS Eventim and Kapsch Trafficcom announced at the end of March, an arbitration court affirmed a claim for damages and reimbursement of expenses against the Federal Republic. In a second phase of the arbitration procedure, the amount of the claim will now be decided. The companies are demanding 560 million euros. Immediately after the ECJ ruling, Scheuer terminated the operator contracts, among other things because they had not fulfilled the contractual services.
Source: Stern
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